How Wicked’s makeup artist greenlit Cynthia Erivo to play Elphaba

When Cynthia Erivo signed on to play Elphaba in Universal’s film adaptation of “Wicked,” she knew one thing: she wanted to be green.

But Erivo actually wanted to be green, don’t have the color superimposed on her skin in post. So the film’s makeup designer Frances Hannon – who was thrilled by the actor’s insistence – took on the challenge of finding the right shade of green.

Hannon made a checklist: The makeup couldn’t look painted; the green shade is meant to compliment Erivo’s “extraordinarily beautiful” features; and the color needed to work in any light. The product also had to last all day and not transfer to Erivo’s co-star Ariana Grande, who plays Glinda, or the elaborate costumes designed by Paul Tazewell.

There was just one problem, Hannon says: “The product didn’t exist.”

Hannon had already been in pre-production on the film — a prequel to “The Wizard of Oz,” which tells the story of Elphaba and Glinda before they were known as the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda the Good — when Erivo signed on. Because the Broadway character, quite famously, is painted green, Hannon was already working on mixing shades and working with models to see how the products would work for film.

“I found the green that worked in the skin tone, but I couldn’t get it to work in all the different lights,” says Hannon. “Inside it would look beautiful, but outside the shade would look grey, and in sunlight it could look blue.”

After endless searching, Hannon found a discontinued Canadian product. “It was a cream eyeshadow,” she says, explaining that the vital ingredient turned out to be neon.

When Hannon discovered the green she wanted, she turned to famed British makeup manufacturer and developer David Stoneman for help recreating it.

“He took the base out of the little eyeshadow, which was a neon yellow—just a few drops of it—and added the green shade. It was the perfect shade. It worked in all lights,” says Hannon. “You could also take it very thin it on and it would stay green.”

Stoneman also made a green primer which smoothed the makeup on the skin. “We airbrushed the very fine green on. We shaped and powdered and sealed if we needed to,” says Hannon.

Erivo’s transformation took up to two and a half hours in the makeup trailer each day, but it wasn’t just about turning her skin green—Hannon and Erivo wanted to give the character a visual arc as the film progresses. The base green color never changes, but Hannon added subtle details like freckles and eyebrow transfers. “The strength of her lips, eyes and nails darkened,” Hannon says, noting that as Elphaba discovers her power, her nails grow stronger and longer.

The wigs were also key to designing Elphaba’s look and getting them right required a huge amount of research.

“Cynthia is petite,” Hannon says of the 5′ 1″ actress. “She had a big hat and big dark clothes and we didn’t want to lose the character.” Micro braiding was the answer, she says, “It kept (her hair) close to her head and out of her face. It didn’t let the hat and costume drown her and gave Elphaba room to develop.”